Remember when you asked us to tell you if there was ever a special project or one-time need, to let you know? We've heard that from many of you, and this, right now, is that time. But more about that in a bit, because I want to let you know where we are going to be over the next little while, in case we may see you there!

Poster for AGC Ladies Rally in Dauphin, MB

At the beginning of April I (Candice) will be heading to Manitoba, Canada, for the weekend to speak at a women's conference in my hometown Dauphin, Manitoba. The conference will have about 90 in attendance and is titled "An Unlikely Missionary."; (I sure am!) I'm excited for the opportunity to share about my journey and some of the fun stories we've gathered along the way. Please pray that God will use me to inspire and encourage those in attendance.

Later in the month of April we will be visiting Montreal, Quebec, to provide an update to Lakeshore Evangelical Church and all of our amazing supporters and friends in the area. We are hosting a gathering at LEC on (what's looking like) the evening of Wednesday, April 26thto give an update on our ministries, but hope to get together with as many of you as possible as one-on-one or small gatherings to get updates on your lives! We are so very much looking forward to being together; it's been awhile! Please let me know if you'd like to get together while we are in town.

Then May brings us back to that time…

On May 1st our family of four will board some long-haul flights from Montreal and head to Impfondo, Republic of Congo. The prospective feeding program I have been working on since my time there in January 2016 is in the implementation stages. The funds have been raised and we've shipped supplies from Ontario Christian Gleaners earlier this month. It has now arrived in the Congo and is waiting to be used at the hospital. I will be returning to Pioneer Christian Hospital to help sort out logistics, train staff, and get the feeding program up and running. This process will, undoubtedly, take a while, so the family will be traveling with me and we will reside in Congo together until the work is done. Tom, a former rehabilitation engineer, will be an asset to the hospital on many levels. He will also be field-testing equipment for SonSet Solutions, and I nominate him Chief Cockroach Killer. Lord willing, we will be back in Elkhart, Indiana at the end of June.

Food for Pioneer Christian Hospital in Congo,
being loaded onto a truck at Ontario Christian Gleaners
in Canada, at the start of its journey to the hospital

This trip to the Republic of Congo is daunting on many levels. But a year ago I felt compelled to pursue a solution to the need for food for patients at Pioneer Christian Hospital. An inpatient died of starvation while I was there and this has burdened me to find a solution to this need. It was an impossible task –- providing food for all inpatients at this hospital that services the poor, weak, and sick; many patients are refugees and AIDS widows and orphans. But over the course of 2016 I witnessed miracles as the Lord provided for the feeding program. And here we are, a year later, and we are implementing the solution to "the impossible". Again, I am looking ahead at the work to be done and at the impossible of logistics and financial need for our family to travel to Impfondo and implement the feeding program, but again, I feel compelled to go. The hospital needs food for its patients and, in the words of Dr. Harvey, the medical director at the missionary hospital:

"We need you to come in order to implement a feeding program for the hospital. We know from experience that what we envision isn't going to happen unless you do. God has provided and we need to work with Him to get the job done."

Dr. Harvey doing rounds at Pioneer Christian Hospital.

So we march forth in faith that feeding the hungry and caring for the sick is what we are called to do, even when it is at great financial cost and risk. We aren't called to be comfortable -- not in perceived safety nor financial security. So we've booked our tickets to Africa and are pleading with the Lord to supply for our needs. If you are willing to assist in completion of this feeding program by helping with our financial needs to go and implement it, we would be so grateful. All donations are tax deductible in both the USA and Canada. Please pray for our family, the feeding program, and, most importantly, the impact it will have at Christian Pioneer Hospital.